Even Regulators Aren't Ready For GDPR; YouTube Still Growing Like A Weed

Even the regulators charged with enforcing GDPR aren’t prepared for it. Seventeen of 24 EU regulators surveyed by Reuters say they don’t have the necessary funding to enforce the law. Watchdogs need more resources, but many EU governments haven’t updated laws (or agency budgets) to account for GDPR, and may not be able to for months. “We’ve realized that our resources were insufficient to cope with the new missions given by the GDPR,” said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of France’s data privacy watchdog. Elizabeth Denham, the UK information commissioner, compared GDPR implementation to “changing the tires on a moving car” and said key legal talent is being poached, often by the same tech companies that could end up under the microscope. Without proper funding, most EU regulators will only be able to respond to violations, rather than seek them out. More.

Totally Tubular

A review of YouTube consumption by Brian Wieser, Pivotal Research senior analyst, finds the Google video platform, already the online leader, growing faster than any other comparable channel. In April, YouTube consumption was up 29% from last year. “Given YouTube’s relative scale – by itself accounting for more consumer time than Facebook, where use of time is declining – ongoing growth at these levels is a notable trend for the industry,” Wieser writes. His estimates are based on Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings. YouTube is particularly important for Google because it allows the company to “represent itself as a substitute to traditional TV for national advertisers.” YouTube can also be the hardest Google property to quit, because there are strong alternatives for search, mapping, Android, Gmail and other product suites.

About Face

Adidas has stopped buying Facebook video ads, pending more proof of its effectiveness. The German sports apparel company “is frustrated about the limited amount of data Facebook shares with its marketers to verify the efficacy of their ads, even as it becomes more expensive to advertise on the site,” Digiday reports. The Facebook black box makes it hard to attribute advertising on the platform within the brand’s larger media plan, but by turning off all video campaigns and monitoring changes to online and offline sales, Adidas plans to find out whether Facebook is worth the frustration. More.

The Data Autobahn

By 2025, the German car manufacturer Audi expects to make $1.2 billion, almost a fifth of last year’s profit, from data and data-driven services generated by smart-car activity, like automated parking, location or destination information and in-car shopping. Volkswagen, Audi’s parent company, is going big on electric vehicles and in-car connectivity – in part to distance itself from its emissions cheating scandal. But Audi needs to find additional revenue to invest responsibly in electric cars, Bloomberg reports, and monetizing data will help do so while keeping profit margin intact. “We’re accelerating the global rollout of new, profitable business models in those areas we believe will be material to our industry in future,” according to a statement by Audi CFO Alexander Seitz. More.